STAND. COM. REP. NO 556

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1377

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 1377 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE WAIKIKI-DIAMOND HEAD SHORELINE FISHERIES MANAGEMENT AREA,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to prohibit spearfishing at all hours of the day within the Waikiki-Diamond Head shoreline fisheries management area until such time as the Department of Land and Natural Resources determines through research that the damage existing as of January 1, 2016, to the coral reefs has abated and the reefs are restored.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Animal Rights Hawaii and Outrigger Hotels.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; Hawaii Sportsmen's Alliance; Hawaii Nearshore Fishermen; and twenty-nine individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

 

     Your Committee finds that the Waikiki-Diamond Head shoreline has been a historic and also iconic area of urban Honolulu for decades.  This area has also experienced a sharp increase in fishing.  As the population in urban Honolulu has grown so has the interest in recreational spearfishing, which has resulted in a negative impact on the fish population.  Your Committee is concerned that unless spearfishing is curbed, the area will not be sustainable for other forms of fishing.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting references to coral reefs and damaged coral;

 

     (2)  Deleting language that would end the spearfishing prohibition at the time the Department of Land and Natural Resources determines through research that damage existing as of January 1, 2016, to the coral reefs has abated and the reefs have been fully restored;

 

     (3)  Clarifying the purpose section to accurately reflect the amendments and concerns regarding the impact of population growth in urban Honolulu on the sustainability of fishing in the area; and

 

     (4)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water and Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1377, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1377, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water and Land,

 

 

 

____________________________

LAURA H. THIELEN, Chair